Unlikely find at work.....a beautiful rose at a cottage in the desert
This week has been a really difficult week for me with regards to work. On the one hand I love my 'office' which is spent mostly driving remote roads to visit clients in outstation communities...but this week was really disjointed....we had excess appointments and not enough staff, we had a lot of clients fall ill due to the cold snap and to top it off we also 'lost' clients in town...which meant they got sick of waiting at Congress, the indigenous health centre in town, and then went 'walkabout' instead. I am sure our clients think it is funny how we worry about them when they have managed to get in and out from their communities all their lives and dossed down in town camps at 'families' houses or in the river when rides didnt turn up or the drivers changed plans...but we do, of course. Especially as the people we look after quite often have dementia or other disabilities which changes their ability to look after themselves as they used to do. It can be quite a frustrating exercise when nobody, including their own family, sense our urgency in locating the people in question.
BUT invariably, we do find them, in the most likely places...often in front of the shops frequented by Indigenous out of towners, IGA North or 'Hoppy's' or at Piggleys shop at the Gap...or one of the town camps inhabitants gives us clues and points us in the right direction.
I was so fed up I actually rang my husband in exasperation, and asked him if there was a possibility of him doing more over time....lol. I think I just wanted to share my sense of frustration.
I was all set to in my mind to pull the pin, had already concocted a new life in an 'easy' admin job, with a structured life (I would hate but thats not the point) and one with routines that work out.
And after all that saga, I got back to work and then had to go and do what we would call a 'health and wellbeing' check on an elderly gentleman. I hadnt had a lunch break, let alone a drink or even a pee stop since 9am and it was damn near 3, the time I pick the kids up...so this didn't help to allay my 'alternative' life plans....
But then I called in to check on my old 'bushy'. Who has been in so much pain lately has been virtually incapacitated....partly due to the cold weather, and has been quite depressed. And I saw a twinkle in his eye and was so happy to see him working on a new project, one in which he is building from scratch a model of a cattle station he once worked on...and found him sitting in the sun of his little flat, whittling the soon to be 'fence' posts from large matches and paddle pop sticks, finally making 'good' use of the expensive high back chair we organised for him...he had the base board clamped to its arm rests....and I had to chuckle to myself. I pictured the Occupational Therapist balking at him not putting the equipment to proper use to 'improve his mobility' ....he had rejected the equipment as accepting would have been a self disclosure of not coping on his own terms. So, despite the obvious misuse, it was a wonderful sight, to see him taking back his independence in his own terms. You can take the bloke out of the bush but you cant take the 'bushy' out of the bloke.
After a chat and a laugh, I got in my car just in time to pick up my kids from school, feeling as though the weight of the world had lifted off my shoulders again, and the strain against time I had felt all week...gone. That one rewarding visit put the skip back into my stride again and renewed my passion.
Amazing isn't it how something seemingly so small can renew your sense of self and purpose.
You see, I have this theory that your work should be rewarding and give you a sense of self. And that life is too short to compromise on this, if you find it too hard to get out of bed and get ready for your day...its time to find a new job or at least make some changes.
Hope you have had a rewarding week!
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